sooooooo... this is one of the most recognizable & widely used symbols in the world (& one of my personal favorites!) can you imagine being able to say... i designed that logo!!!! mind blowing!
it was designed in 1958, by gerald herbert holtom, b 20th january 1914 d 18th september 1985, specifically for the anti-nuclear movement.
gerald holtom was a designer & artist who graduated from the royal college of arts* & was also a conscientious objector in world war II. he showed his preliminary sketches to a small group of people in the peace news office in north london, england & to the direct action committee against nuclear war, one of several smaller organizations that set up CND.**
the direct action committee had planned what was to be the first major anti-nuclear march, from london to aldermaston, where british nuclear weapons were manufactured. it was on that march, over the 1958 easter weekend that the symbol first appeared in public. five hundred cardboard lollipops on sticks were produced. half were black on white and half white on green. like the church’s liturgical colors change over easter these colors changed 'from winter to spring, from death to life.'
gerald holtom, explained that the symbol incorporated the semaphore letters N nuclear & D disarment. he later wrote to hugh brock, editor of peace news, explaining the genesis of his idea in greater, more personal depth. 'i was in despair. deep despair. i drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of goya’s peasant before the firing squad. i formalized the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.
eric austin of kensington CND, made the first badges using white clay with the symbol painted black. they were distributed with a note explaining that in the event of a nuclear war, these fired pottery badges would be among the few human artifacts to survive the nuclear inferno.
he added his own interpretation of the design, 'the gesture of despair had long been associated with the death of man and the circle with the unborn child.'
bayard rustin, a close associate of martin luther king had come over from the US in order to take part in that first march. he took the symbol back to the United States where it was used on civil rights marches. later it appeared on anti-vietnam war demonstrations and was even seen daubed in protest on their helmets by american GIs. simpler to draw than the picasso peace dove, it became known, first in the US and then round the world as the peace symbol. it has appeared on the walls of prague when the soviet tanks invaded in 1968, on the berlin wall, in sarajevo and belgrade, on the graves of the victims of military dictators from the greek colonels to the argentinian junta, & in east timor.
it has never been copyrighted. REPEAT: IT HAS NEVER BEEN COPYRIGHTED! no one has to pay or to seek permission before they use it. a TRUE symbol of freedom, it is a free for all.
(WOW! is it one of those catch-22's, if it wasn't free it wouldn't have become so popular?) they have no intention of copyrighting it either.
this of course sometimes leads to its use, or misuse, in circumstances that CND and the peace movement find distasteful. it is often exploited for commercial, advertising or generally fashion purposes. come on commercial users, stop being greedy!! & make a donation, any money received is used for CND’s peace education and information work.
*The Royal College of Art (often abbreviated RCA) is the world’s only wholly postgraduate
university of art & design.
**The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an anti-nuclear organization that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, and for international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. it opposes military action that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and the building of nuclear power stations in the UK. its chairperson is kate hudson.
